News

Writer and reporter Donnie aka SSF1991 joins us on this episode of the SEGAbits Swingin’ Report Show podcast to discuss his work with sites in the SEGA and Sonic community that include Sonic Paradox, TSSZ and The Sonic Stadium! We talk about Donnie’s early days as a SEGA fan, how he became a writer covering live events and breaking SEGA and Sonic news stories, and the final days of TSSZ.

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The Famitsu article has been revealed, and it’s not the Game Gear Micro, it’s Fog Gaming! What is Fog Gaming? It’s a revolutionary (there’s that word again) new approach to arcades that would lower costs and allow players to enjoy arcade games from their home. Learn more by clicking play!

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We now have more details on the Game Gear Micro, including what games can be found on each unit. That’s right, each color handheld has its own games. Watch and learn what to expect from this upcoming release!

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The “revolutionary” SEGA news teased by Japanese tech journalist Zenji Nishikawa has arrived, and despite some speculation it is NOT the Game Gear Micro. As reported by Gematsu, Famitsu magazine’s reveal is that SEGA research and development is working on “Fog Gaming”, a possible new platform to be utilized by Japanese arcades. The concept could totally change how SEGA approaches and operates arcades, arcades being a strong focus for SEGA in their home country.

Fog Gaming promises ultra low latency arcade games operating on a cloud-like service. Fog Gaming would channel an arcade machines’ CPUs and GPUs which would result in lower costs. Players would also be able to play arcade games from home, presumably after hours so as to not cut into arcade business hours. Twitter user @Doorkez says “the difference between Cloud and fog: The main difference between fog computing and cloud computing is that cloud is a centralized system, while the fog is a distributed decentralized infrastructure. Fog computing is a mediator between hardware and remote servers”

SEGA has announced that their big revolutionary news in this week’s Famitsu issue is going to be the Game Gear Micro. While it was as huge as a lot of people where speculating online, its still technically new SEGA hardware and its a type of device that no other company h as tried before. This new Game Gear Micro also really lives up to its name. Check out our video for all the latest information we know and come back later for more information as it releases.

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Following the success of the Genesis/Mega Drive Mini, SEGA has announced that they are working on a Game Gear Micro handheld. The news came as part of SEGA’s 60th anniversary, in an interview between CEO Haruki Satomi and the new SEGA of Japan mascot Sega Shiro. The revealing interview, which is worth a read even with Google Translate, touches on fans speculating that the SEGA Saturn will somehow be revived (perhaps as a Mini plug-and-play console) but instead the plan is to release a Game Gear Micro!

UPDATE: Twitter user NintenDaan discovered the teaser site’s featured image reveals the release date of October 6, 2020, a price of 4,980 Yen ($46 USD) and four color options for the console. So basically, hardcore SEGA fans are dropping $200.

It seems that people have been digging deeper into what SEGA’s big revolutionary tech news that is suppose to be announced during Famitsu’s June 4th issue. It seems a lot of people have been spreading rumors, one that gained traction was that SEGA would rebrand and release the ‘SEGA Series X’ (Xbox Series X) in Japan. Of course we got a confirmation that it isn’t true. There have also been rumors about SEGA finally bringing they’re full back catalogue in a ‘Microsoft Game Pass’ type service and even rumors of SEGA releasing a new console.

It looks like another thing it might be is a fully programmable touch screen controller if this patent is true. According to the abstract information:

“An information processing device includes: a controller that generates a game image of an object disposed in a virtual game space; and a touch panel that displays the game image. The touch panel detects an input of a user’s touch operation on the game image and outputs, to the controller, a detection signal indicating the detection of the input. The controller determines a contact surface area at an indicated position on the touch panel indicated by the user’s touch operation based on the detection signal. The controller determines, based on a size of the contact surface area, whether are first operation or a second operation has been inputted. The controller performs a first control related to the object in response to the first operation, and a second control related to the object when the second operation has been inputted.“

From what this looks like, it will be a sort of control scheme that can be updated and learn from the player. The idea would be that the ‘SEGA touch screen controller’ will pick up how far your hands can reach, where you like items to be clicked and sort of make it a universal thing making users jumping from game to game a lot easier? A few things to note, this filing isn’t that “new new” as it was filed in January 2020. Of course its still recent. Could this be SEGA’s huge revolutionary tech? We will be finding out in less than 48 hours. What do you think?

No plot spoiler but really liking the Star Wars lore vibes with this new series and loving every ad they have been releasing. Its cheesy, fun and full of little throwbacks to the old Segata Sanshiro ads. Here is a good quote from the ad:

“And forget about me already. I am the symbol of the old Sega… From now on, you must protect the new Sega.”

Famitsu has been teasing ‘Revolutionary’ SEGA news that should be coming out in a few days, we posted an article and video about the news with some speculation. One of the speculations we had in our video was that SEGA could be rebranding the Xbox Series X in Japan as a SEGA console and promote it themselves considering how bad Microsoft’s branding has been in the nation. It seems we weren’t the only people to bring it up that we got subtweet by @ZhugeEX on Twitter. We have at least confirmed that it would be this outlandish speculation, but don’t worry we have other outrages speculations in our full video.

“A key opinion leader in China says they have seen the latest Famitsu issue and that they can confidently say that the news is not what has been rumored. (The rumor being that Microsoft would work with Sega to rebrand and launch Series X in Japan). Is something else.”

What could the news be? We will find out in a few days but it does seem some SEGAbits Discord users have brought up a good point about SEGA rebranding their logo with the ‘eye’ back in 2017, which teased ‘eye tracking technology’ that we never saw as a commercial product. People predicting this is what SEGA will show off, makes sense. But what do you think the big announcement will be? Let us know in the comments.

Morning Space Cats, the official Space Channel 5 VR website has officially announced that Hatsune Miku will be joining Space Channel 5 VR: Kinda Funky News Flash! as DLC in the “Space39 Miku Pack” which will be on sale on July 27, 2020.

A Fan Art contest called “I <3 SC5” is also being held on June 1st where contestants can submit illustrations, screenshots, craft works, cosplay photos related to Space Channel 5 VR for grand prizes. Click here for a chance to enter.

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The modding community for retro games is great and now we have a new project released by eskayelle which includes a final set of modes for the long modded ‘TMNT of Rage’ series. The game’s story has you playing an alternative universe where you have to take down Mr. X and the Syndicate as everyone’s favorite turtle brothers.

A throwback to the old 90’s arcade splash screens starts off your gaming experience.

A six sequence ending specific to this game, the first for any SoR2 hack out there, incorporates redesigned images from the classic TMNT II and III NES games. These images also put some artistic spins on the palettes / color schemes for a bit of extra fun.

Those bumbling buffoons, those moronic mutants, Rocksteady and Bebop, have now joined the Syndicate! Dumber than advertised, but stronger than ever, get ready to go toe to toe with them, Bebop making his first appearance in a Genesis / Mega Drive game.

An updated story in attract mode complements the new ending sequence.

A new title screen takes greater advantage of the Genesis / Mega Drive’s palette options.

Thanks to Yoni, gone are road apples in favor of a nice slice! Try not to smile the first time you hear Mikey calling out “Pizza Time!” as he grabs some grub.

With the additional Re-Shelled patch, play the game on a Terraonion MegaSD (or with any emulator that supports MD+ functionality) to enjoy that sweet soundtrack from eskayelle’s TMNT MD+ Remix. Grab that soundtrack here!

You can also check out the post by eskayelle here talking about what he changed and added.

According to Variety, Paramount Pictures and SEGA Sammy announced that the sequel to the Sonic the Hedgehog Movie is in the works with Jeff Fowler returning, and Pat Casey and Josh Miller writing the script. Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher and Toru Nakahara are also producing the movie, while Hajime Satomi, Haruki Satomi and Tim Miller are executive producing.

So far we know that Tails made a cameo appearance during the post-credits scene and in an interview with Jim Carrey on a sequel, he would be interested in portraying Dr. Robotnik once again as there is “so much room” to explore with the character. What would you like to see unfold in the sequel? Let us know in the comments below.

Some “revolutionary” tech news pertaining to SEGA is set to hit next week, and on this SEGA News Bits we discuss what exactly the news could be. SEGA turns 60 on June 3rd, and just a day later Famitsu magazine will be printing the news. Could it be new hardware? A SEGA streaming service? A Microsoft partnership? We will soon find out! In the meantime, let’s speculate!

If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.

In a YouTube live stream, Japanese tech journalist Zenji Nishikawa has teased what he calls a “huge scoop” for the June 4th issue of Japan’s Famitsu magazine. He calls the news “revolutionary” and claims it is on the level of Wired’s PlayStation 5 article. What more, it will “rile up the games industry”. Nishikawa says he interviewed a company executive and technical staff, and later let slip that the company in question was SEGA.

Nishikawa has said it is NOT Dreamcast 2. With SEGA’s 60th anniversary on June 3rd, it does line up with the June 4th issue release. We will have more news soon on this big announcement! What could it be? Speculate in the comments below.